Abstract
Integration of concentrated solar energy into the pyrometallurgical Zn production process as clean source of high‐temperature process heat could significantly reduce fossil fuels consumption and its concomitant CO2 emissions. The solar‐driven carbothermal reduction of ZnO is investigated using a 10‐kWth solar reactor featuring two cavities, the upper one serving as the solar absorber and the lower one containing a packed‐bed of ZnO and beech charcoal as the biogenic reducing agent. Experimentation in a high‐flux solar simulator is carried out under radiative fluxes of 2300–2890 suns, yielding a peak solar‐to‐chemical energy conversion efficiency of 18.4%. The reactor performance under variable operating conditions is analyzed via a dynamic numerical model coupling heat transfer with chemical kinetics. The model is validated by comparison to the experimental data obtained with the 10‐kWth packed‐bed solar reactor and further applied to predict the effect of incorporating semi‐continuous feeding of reactants on the process efficiency. © 2016 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 62: 4586–4594, 2016
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